A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Marsh, Digby
MARSH. (Captain, 1842. f-p., 21; h-p., 20.)
Digby Marsh is third son of the Rev. Jeremy Marsh, Rector of Rosenallis, Queen’s County, by Rachel, daughter of Colonel Montgomery, who was murdered during the rebellion of 1798. He is a direct descendant of Francis and Narcissus Marsh, Lords Primate of Ireland and Dublin; as also of the celebrated Jeremy Taylor. Among his professional relatives are the present Capt. Joseph and Lieut. Edw. Digby, R.N.
This officer entered the Navy, 10 Jan. 1806, as Fst.-cL Vol., on board the Eurus store-ship, Capt. Ennis; and on 15 of the following month removed to the Minerva frigate, commanded by the late Sir Geo. Ralph Collier; with whom he continued to serve as Midshipman, Master’s Mate, and for a short time as Acting-Lieutenant, in the Surveillante 38, until Nov. 1813. He assisted, in the Minerva, at the capture of Copenhagen in Sept. 1807; and was actively employed, in the Surveillante, in co-operation with the patriots on the north coast of Spain, where he was severely wounded in a breaching battery at the siege of St. Sebastian in Aug. and Sept. 1813.[1] On the occasion of the second assault on that place he volunteered to conduct a column of Portuguese infantry over the breach; as he also did to recross it under a heavy fire for the purpose of conveying a pencil despatch from the commander of the storming party ordering a reinforcement. This service was handsomely and warmly acknowledged by the late Sir Alex. Dixon, then in command of the Artillery. Mr. Marsh had previously served in a boat belonging to the Surveillante at the capture of a French merchant-brig between the batteries of St. Guildas and St. Jacques, in Quiberon Bay, 5 Sept. 1810;[2] and had commanded one of two boats under Lieut. O’Reilly at the capture of a French gun-vessel carrying troops to the relief of St. Antonio; besides having so successfully contributed to the defence of two valuable prizes against the attacks of a French and American privateer as to have induced Sir Edw. Tucker, at the time in temporary command of the Sdrveiklahte, to present him with a sum of money for the purchase of a sword. On leaving the Surveillante as above he became Acting-Lieutenant of the Challenger 18, Capts. Fred. Edw. Vernon (now Harcourt) and Henry Forbes; to which vessel (being confirmed to her by commission dated 24 Dec. 1813) he continued attached until Sept. 1815 – commanding her boats, during that period, at the destruction, by a force under Rear-Admiral Chas. Vinicombe Penrose, of a French squadron and flotilla in the river Gironde. He appears to have been in the same sloop when she brought the Prince of Orange over to this country on the eve of his intended marriage with the Princess Charlotte. His next appointment was, 25 July, 1818, to the Tartar 42, fitting for the broad pendant of his friend Sir G. R. Collier, Commander-in-Chief on the coast of Africa; where his conduct, in twice preserving life under circumstances of a very trying and hazardous nature, procured him a strong recommendation to the Admiralty. On the first occasion, a boat he had entered and had been hastening to lower having broken at one end from her holdings, he was precipitated into the water, and in his endeavour to save himself lost all the flesh off the inside of his hand. During his continuance in the Tartar (he did not leave her until 8 Oct. 1821) Lieut. Marsh succeeded in, her boats in capturing several heavy-armed vessels, and in one instance was nearly killed while in the act of firing a brass 4-pounder, which broke from its carriage, struck him on the head, and, passing over, severely wounded 2 of his men. He attained the rank of Commander 5 Jan. 1822; but was not again employed until 6 June, 1833, when he received a three years’ appointment in the Coast Guard. He went back to that service 11 July, 1837, and continued in it until posted, 1 Jan. 1842. In admiration of his intrepidity in putting off in a boat during a dark and stormy night in Nov. 1840, and rescuing the crew of the brig Otterton of Sunderland, wrecked on the beach between Blarshide and Black Rock, co. Cornwall, the Royal Humane Society presented Capt. Marsh with a gold medal. On the occasion of his last promotion he was requested by the officers of the Brighton district, over which he had been latterly presiding, to accept at their hands a pair of epaulettes, a compliment the existing regulations of the service compelled him to decline. He has since been on half-pay.
Capt. Marsh (the Senior of 1842) married Adelaide, youngest daughter of John Rowley, Esq., of the island of Tobago, by whom he has issue five children. Agents – Collier and Snee.